Gosh, did last night’s game suck, or what? That was no fun. Forget about that and focus on tonight. Speaking of tonight, the Yankees really need a win. Not only for the sanity of the fan base, but also to stay alive in the AL East race. They’re five back in the loss column with 55 games to play. Doable. They just don’t want the deficit to get any worse. I mean, duh.

Big start for Luis Severino tonight! For a few reasons. One, Sonny Gray and CC Sabathia combined for 5.2 innings the last two games, so the pitching staff is a bit of a wreck. The Yankees need innings. And two, Severino himself has been kinda crappy the last few times out. We need to see the good version of Severino again and soon, as in tonight. The Yankees need to bounce back as a team and Severino needs to bounce back personally. Here are the lineups:

Another hot, humid, and cloudy night in Boston. Sticky to your seat weather. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm ET and you can watch on WPIX locally and MLB Network out-of-market. Enjoy the game.

Injury Update: Aaron Judge (wrist) is progressing well and he could begin taking dry swings and hitting off a tee very soon, as in before the end of the weekend. Good news … Gary Sanchez (groin) is doing some light rehab work. He hasn’t been cleared to start running or to resume baseball activities yet.

Roster Move: Welcome back, Tommy Kahnle. He was called up and Luis Cessa was sent down, the Yankees announced. Kahnle might only be here for one day since Chance Adams is coming up to make tomorrow’s start. Interestingly enough, Aaron Boone said today the Yankees considered a few different options for Cessa’s roster spot today, including some outside the organization. Hmmm.

The biggest series of the season? The biggest series of the season. Certainly the biggest series of the season to date, at least. There’s still 50-something games to play after this weekend. Anyway, the Yankees and Red Sox open a four-game series at Fenway Park tonight, and here are the AL East standings at the moment:

Red Sox: 75-34

Yankees: 68-38 (5.5 GB)

Rays: 56-53 (19 GB)

Blue Jays: 48-59 (26 GB)

Orioles: 33-75 (41.5 GB)

A two-team race. The Yankees and Red Sox have the two best records in baseball, and this is the first time they’ve met this late in a season with the game’s two best records since the Game 163 tiebreaker in 1978, if you can believe that. The Yankees are trying to gain ground to make the division race an actual race. The BoSox are looking to bury the Yankees and run away with this thing.

Obvious statement is obvious: A split is the absolute bare minimum this weekend. Winning three of four would be swell. A sweep would be incredible. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. The Yankees seemed to do that yesterday against the Orioles. Felt like they got caught looking ahead to this series. Worry about tonight’s game and tonight’s game only. Gotta win one before you can think about winning two or three or four. Here are the lineups:

It is cloudy, warm, and windy in Boston this evening. Not ideal baseball weather but it’ll do. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:10pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Rotation Update: Sonny Gray has been moved to the bullpen, mercifully. He’ll be available starting Saturday. “I’ve struggled and they’ve given me ample opportunity to figure it out … I don’t think my days as a starting pitcher in this league are over, but right now it’s all about winning and doing my part, and my role right now is in the bullpen,” he said. Lance Lynn will take Gray’s rotation spot.

Injury Update: J.A. Happ has been placed on the 10-day DL with his hand, foot, and mouth disease. Crazy. The move is retroactive to Monday, so he can return as soon as next Thursday. He’ll miss just one start. Sucks he had to miss a start this series though. What can you do? … Aaron Judge (wrist) has been running and going through agility drills and all that. He is inching closer to swinging a bat.

Roster Moves: Both Luis Cessa and Luke Voit have been called up, the Yankees announced. Voit is wearing No. 45. Something tells me he won’t fit into Chasen Shreve’s jersey. Voit’s up as an extra right-handed bat for the weekend. As for Cessa, he replaces Happ — they had to use Happ’s disabled list stint to bring Cessa back because it hasn’t been ten days since he was sent down — and right now Saturday’s starter is TBA, but it’ll be Cessa unless he’s needed out of the bullpen tonight or tomorrow. Tyler Wade was sent down to make room for Voit. Shane Robinson remains on the roster and Neil Walker is now de facto the backup infielder. My guess is Voit will go back to Triple-A after this series and Ronald Torreyes will return.

The quick three-game road trip is over — when’s the last time the Yankees had a three-game road trip? — and the Yankees are back in the Bronx for a six-game homestand against the teams with the two worst records in baseball. Four against the Royals (31-70), then an off-day Monday, then two against the Orioles (29-73).

The Yankees are 8-8 this season against the three current place teams in the AL (O’s, Royals, Rangers) and there’s nothing they can do about that now. Those games are in the bank. All they can do is take care of business going forward. This homestand is a great opportunity to beat up on some bad teams and rack up some wins. One game at a time though. Here are the starting lineups:

It is a bit cloudy in New York this evening but there is no rain in the forecast, and that’s all that matters. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on WPIX locally and MLB Network out-of-market. Enjoy the ballgame.

J.A. Happ Update:In case you missed it earlier, the Yankees traded Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney to the Blue Jays for Happ this afternoon. It’s a done deal. Happ is on schedule to start Saturday, though Aaron Boone said they’re probably going to push him back a day or two just to give him some time to get settled in. Makes sense.

Roster Moves: Zach Britton is with the Yankees and is active tonight. They already had an open 40-man roster spot, and Luis Cessa was sent down to make room on the 25-man roster Also, Britton is wearing his usual No. 53. Third base coach Phil Nevin will change numbers, if you care about such things … Shane Robinson was called up to replace Drury. He takes his 25-man and 40-man roster spots. Robinson played in Triple-A Scranton’s doubleheader this afternoon. Assuming he gets to the ballpark in time, he could play in two Triple-A games and one MLB game in the same day. That’d be neat. Anyway, the Yankees will have to make another move to get Happ on the 25-man roster in the coming days. No 40-man move is required because he’ll take McKinney’s spot.

Game 100 is always an interesting milestone for me. The season is more than halfway over and has been for a while now, but seeing that triple-digit game number really drives home the point that damn, we’re getting into the home stretch here. Crazy how fast the baseball season can go by. At least it’s been a fun one so far. Lots of teams out there are basically running out the clock and waiting for the season to end.

Anyway, welcome back Gleyber Torres! As expected, he was activated off the disabled list today. He missed 15 games — was it really only 15 games? — and, during those 15 games, his second base replacements hit .255/.328/.455 with five doubles and two homers. Neil Walker hit .294/.415/.471 in 41 plate appearances while Gleyber was out. Huh. Who knew? Anyway, glad Torres is back. He’s good and fun. Here are this afternoon’s lineups:

Nathan Eovaldi was supposed to start for the Rays today, but he was scratched this morning because he’s been traded to the Red Sox. So much for that. Anyway, it is hot and raining outside in St. Pete and nice and cool inside Tropicana Field this afternoon. Today’s game will start at 12:10pm ET. I didn’t accidentally post the game thread early. It is a 12:10pm ET start. YES will have the game locally and MLB Network will have the game out-of-market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Roster Moves: Gio Gallegos was sent down after last night’s game and Luis Cessa was called up this morning to make today’s start. He’s taking Domingo German’s rotation spot … Tyler Wade was sent down to Triple-A Scranton to clear a roster spot for Torres.

Injury Updates: Aaron Hicks jammed his shoulder sliding into second base the other night and is doing better. He took batting practice the last two days and everything went well. Hicks is available to play today, though the Yankees are giving him that one extra day to rest up … Brandon Drury is going to avoid the disabled list after taking that pitch to the hand last night. He is day-to-day.

Zach Britton Update: Zach Britton is not with the Yankees and isn’t on the active roster for today’s game. He’ll meet the club in New York tomorrow for the start of the homestand. The trade went down late last night and there’s no sense in making him travel to Tampa, arrive late to today’s game or possibly miss it entirely, and then turn right around and fly to New York with the team this evening.

A team is only as good as its weakest link, so the saying goes. The Yankees have had a series of bench players, mop-up relievers and forgettable characters so far this year. Why not grade them?

Ronald Torreyes

The skinny: Torreyes got the chance to start plenty of games at second base until Gleyber Torres was called up and Toe did nothing but rake in that interim. It was mostly singles, but he finished April with a .390/.405/.488 line. He has been sent down and called up twice with the Yankees not having room on their infield for even semi-regular time. Gotta love Toe.

Best game/highlight: He’s had a trio of three-hit games this season, but one of his one-hit games stands out. On Apr. 19, he knocked in a run early before walking and scoring the go-ahead run in a 4-3 win vs. Toronto.

Midseason Grade: A

Brandon Drury

The skinny: The Yankees acquired Drury with the idea he’d be their starting third baseman, but vision problems and the emergence of Miguel Andujar have kept him away from the big league club. He has just eight hits as a Yankee thus far, though he excelled in Scranton. Hopefully, he’ll receive a larger chance now that his vision is better and he can make an impact in the second half.

Best game/highlight: In the second game of the year, he drove in two runs while going 2-for-3 with a walk. His double in the second inning came mere inches away from going out of the park.

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Midseason Grade: C/Incomplete

Tyler Wade

The skinny: Wade’s first stint with the Yanks in 2018 was seriously disappointing. Though he provided the Yankees with stable defense at second, he simply didn’t hit. He had a real chance to win playing time at second base to start the year and blew it. His second opportunity in replacing Gleyber has been much better with six hits in his last 13 ABs with some good defense as well. He’s going to play a role down the stretch, even if it’s just as a pinch runner.

Best game/highlight: Last week, Wade came a triple short of the cycle, knocking his first career home run to right field at Camden Yards. It’s surprising a player that fast doesn’t have a triple in his career yet.

Midseason Grade: D

Clint Frazier

The skinny: Frazier is a victim of the Yankees having one of the best outfield rotations in baseball. He’d be starting in a corner for most other teams. When he’s been with the big league club, he’s shown strong patience and sports a .390 OBP. He was robbed of a game-winning home run by the monstrosity that is Tropicana Field. He’ll get an opportunity soon if he’s not traded for a top-line starting pitcher.

Best game/highlight: His first game of the year came on May 19 in Kansas City and he lined a double, drew two walks and scored a run. Always nice to see him show off both a strong approach and his Legendary Bat Speed.

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Midseason Grade: B+

Tyler Austin

The skinny: Austin was the fill-in first baseman for Greg Bird for the first month and a half and was perfectly adequate. He hit eight home runs and put up a .471 slugging percentage. However, he didn’t get on base often enough and was prone to prolonged slumps. The 26-year-old remains a solid contingency plan waiting in Triple-A, though you’d rather see Bird out there for sure.

Best game/highlight: He has two two-homer games this year and the second one was an impressive day in Kansas City. He drilled a pair of two-run shots to knock starter Eric Skoglund out of the game and begin a blowout win.

Midseason Grade: B-

Billy McKinney

The skinny: Two games. Four at-bats. One hit. One injury. That’s a basic summary of McKinney’s big-league career thus far. He was called up for Game No. 2 after Aaron Hicks went down with an injury and was sidelined himself in his second start by banging into the left field wall at Rogers Centre. Not ideal. He’s been good once again in Scranton.

Best game/highlight: Obviously, it’s his one full game where he recorded his first career hit. March 30 in Toronto, a win to boot.

Midseason Grade: Incomplete

Cessa time. (Getty Images)

Luis Cessa

The skinny: Anyone else forget Luis Cessa was in a mop-up role in mid-April? He apparently threw four innings that month before suffering an oblique strain. He came back up in June, threw two innings of relief and then had a forgettable spot start in Philly. He then started in Baltimore during last Monday’s doubleheader with further detail below.

Best game/highlight: July 9 in Baltimore wasn’t a pretty day for the Yankees, but Cessa helped them salvage a win against the last-place O’s with six shutout innings. He put on six baserunners but pitched well and had two double plays turned behind him. Not bad!

Midseason Grade: B

David Hale

The skinny: Hale was up and down as a mop up reliever, taking almost exclusively the lowest leverage innings and saving the rest of the bullpen, all before receiving an unceremonious DFA. He threw exclusively multi-inning outings and also had one game with the Twins. While his last outing was impressive, he won’t be making another with the Yankees this season as he has signed with the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO.

Best game/highlight: He saved the best for last in relief of Sonny Gray. He threw 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays in a 6-2 loss. While he gave the team a chance to win, it was more important that he simply absorbed innings.

Midseason Grade: A

Gio Gallegos

The skinny: Like Hale, Gallegos has come up to take on mop up innings. In four multi-inning outings, he hasn’t come in with a leverage index higher than .30. It’ll be tough for him to earn any sort of permanent role with the Yankees this season, so it’s the up-and-down role the rest of the way. He’s one of three Yankees with a save as he threw three innings to close Cessa’s win in the doubleheader.

Best game/highlight: In Cessa’s other start vs. the Phillies, Gallegos came in out of the bullpen and dazzled hitters with his stuff. Three innings, two hits, no runs and six strikeouts. Six! It was his best outing as a Yankee. Two of the Ks were the opposing pitcher, but he also punched out Cesar Hernandez and Rhys Hoskins.

Midseason Grade: B

Jace Peterson

The skinny: McKinney, Hicks and Jacoby Ellsbury all were on the disabled list in early April, thus giving Peterson a shot. He got a chance to play three games (two starts) in the outfield, going 3-for-10 with a walk over 10 days. He joined Baltimore afterwards and, funny enough, has played as many games against the Yankees as he has for the Bombers.

Best game/highlight: He manned left field in his first Yankee start on Apr. 7 and saved the game with a nice catch to rob Pedro Alvarez of two go-ahead RBI in a game the Yankees would go on to win.

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Midseason Grade: B+

Shane Robinson

The skinny: With the Yankees still short on outfielders and facing lefties in Boston, Robinson got the call-up in place of Peterson. He went 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base in his two games in pinstripes.

Best game/highlight: He pinch ran for Tyler Austin and stole second base on Apr. 11 in Boston. I guess that counts as a highlight?

(AP)Sabathia’s newest kryptonite
As exciting as this season has been for the Yankees, they hadn’t been able to beat up on the dreadful Orioles. Their frustrations against baseball’s cellar-dweller continued in the opener of Monday’s doubleheader as they blew a three-run lead and lost 5-4.

This was the fourth time this season the Yankees have blown a lead of three-or-more runs and lost against a team that entered the day with a win percentage below .400. That’s the most such losses of any team in the majors this season. And here’s an unfathomable stat to chew on: from 2011-17, they suffered only four such losses in those seven seasons combined.

CC Sabathia cruised through the first three innings, before getting into trouble in the fourth and then imploding in the sixth. This continued a string of awful starts against the Orioles, as he’s now winless with a 5.96 ERA in his last eight starts against them since mid-2016. And it’s somehow been even worse recently:

Should Aaron Boone have sent Sabathia out for the sixth inning, with the heart of the Orioles order coming to bat for the third time? The numbers say he’s really struggled in that situation this year:

CC Sabathia This Season

Batters Faced

BA/OBP/SLG

1st PA

153

.213/.275/.305

2nd PA

152

.230/.3016/.393

3rd+ PA

102

.344/.382/.617

So, the third/fourth time through the order, he’s almost turned every batter into J.D. Martinez (.330/.393/.649) this season.

Hail, Gritty Gutty Brett Gardner
The Yankees avoided the ultimate embarrassment — getting swept by the worst team in baseball — and destroyed the Orioles, 10-2, in the nightcap of Monday’s doubleheader.

The bats finally woke up (17 hits) and came through in the clutch (7-for-15 with RISP) as they produced one of their best offensive games in Baltimore in more than a decade. Its the first time since a 10-2 win on September 2, 2009 that they scored double-digit runs and had more than 15 hits at Camden Yards.

And if you want to consider the power display — seven homers and two doubles — this game was nearly unprecedented. The only other time the Yankees scored at least 10 runs and had nine extra-base hits in a game in Baltimore was a 16-0 win over the Orioles on April 30, 1960!

(AP)
Brett Gardner sparked the offense, going 4-for-6 with a homer and three RBI. Dating back to the start of 2017 (and including the postseason), the Yankees are 22-3 when Gardy homers in a game. His awesome effort also earned him our coveted Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: this is Gardner’s fourth career game with at least four hits and three RBI from the leadoff spot. That’s the most 4-hit, 3-RBI games by any leadoff batter in franchise history.

Luis Cessa delivered one of the best performances of his career, throwing six scoreless innings and getting his first win as a starter since August 26, 2016 against the Orioles. Gio Gallegos pitched the final three frames and converted the rare three-inning save, his first career major-league save. It also produced this cool note: Cessa and Gallegos are the first Mexican-born tandem to earn a win and save in the same game for the Yankees.

(AP)Deja Vu All Over Again
The Yankees mediocre play against the Orioles reached dire levels on Tuesday night as they blew multiple leads and again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when the Orioles won it on a game-ending hit in the bottom of the ninth.

The fact that the Yankees have struggled to string together wins here in Baltimore is not surprising. They entered this series with a 13-25 (.342) record at Camden Yards over the last five seasons, easily their worst at any AL ballpark since 2014. In fact, its also by far the worst record at Camden Yards for any of the AL East teams in the span; the Rays, Blue Jays and Red Sox have each won at least 43 percent of their games there since 2014.

Masahiro Tanaka came off the DL to make his first start since June 8, and he was back to being the typical Tanaka, giving up the #Obligatoryhomerun. It was an 89-mph fastball perfectly placed in the meatball zone, ready for Manny Machado to crush 444 feet into the left-centerfield seats.

Tanaka has allowed 52 homers in 44 games (255 1/3 innings) since the start of 2017, tied with Ian Kennedy for the most in the majors over the last two seasons. His home run rate in 2018 is now 2.0 per 9 IP, which is on pace to be the worst ever for any Yankee pitcher with at least 20 starts in a season.

Machado delivered the biggest blows, tying the game twice with a solo homer in the fifth and a two-run shot in seventh. Those were his 19th and 20th homers against the Yankees since 2015, five more than any other player has hit in the last four seasons. It was also his fourth career multi-homer game versus the Yankees, the most of any player against them since his debut in 2012.

(AP)Deja Vu All Over Again, Part II
Two down, two up for the Yankees as they routed the Orioles, 9-0, to split the four-game series. It was their largest shutout win ever at Camden Yards, and their largest against the Orioles in Baltimore since a 10-0 blanking on June 19, 1985 at Memorial Stadium. This was also the Yankees seventh shutout in 2018, matching their total from all of last year.

Greg Bird broke the game open when he went deep with the bases loaded in the third inning, belting his first career grand slam to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead. Bird was 1-for-14 with seven strikeouts in his career with the bases full before hitting that homer. He joined a sweet group of Yankee first baseman to hit a grand slam in Baltimore:

Tino Martinez May 1, 1996

Don Mattingly Sept. 25, 1987

Bill Skowron April 22, 1961 and April 14, 1959

It was also his second straight game with at least four RBI, the first Yankee to do that since Alfonso Soriano in 2013. And he also earned this #FunFact: Bird is the only player in franchise history to drive in at least four runs in back-to-back games against the Orioles (since the team changed its nickname and moved to Baltimore in 1954).

Giancarlo Stanton quietly had another huge game at the plate, going 4-for-5 with two RBI. His five games with at least four hits are the most in MLB — and the same number that the rest of the Yankees have combined this season.

Sonny Gray bounced back from his two worst starts as a Yankee to throw one of his best starts as a Yankee, holding the Orioles scoreless over six innings while striking out eight. In four starts against the Royals and Orioles this season he is 4-0 with a 1.73 ERA; against all other teams this season he is 2-7 with a 6.96 ERA.

If only he could pitch all his games at Camden Yards against the Orioles …

For the first time in a little more than four weeks, Masahiro Tanaka will take the mound in a big league game this evening. Tanaka’s been out since June 8th with mild strains of both hamstrings — he suffered a very Mets injury running the bases at Citi Field — but he’s healthy now and has completed his rehab assignment, and is ready to rejoin a rotation in need of reinforcement. Good Tanaka would be quite a boost.

Anyway, the Yankees have won five of their last seven games but dammit I’m still annoying by the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader. Winnable game right there for the taking. Bah. At least the Yankees blew the Orioles out in the second game of the doubleheader. That was fun. Please treat the 25-66 team like a 25-66 team again today. Here are tonight’s lineups:

Hot and sunny in Baltimore but surprisingly not all that humid. Usually it gets so humid you stick to the seats at Camden Yards. Tonight’s game will begin at 7:05pm ET and you can watch on YES locally and MLB Network out of market. Enjoy the ballgame.

Injury Updates: Gary Sanchez (groin) has started running the bases, so he’s doing everything as he works his way back into game shape. Hitting, catching, throwing, running, the whole nine … Gleyber Torres (hip) played catch today. Pretty sure this is the first time he’s done any baseball activity since landing on the disabled list.

Roster Moves: As expected, Luis Cessa was sent down to Triple-A Scranton following last night’s game to clear a roster spot for Tanaka. Gio Gallegos also went back down since he was the 26th man … So long, David Hale. He cleared waivers and elected free agency. I suspect he will re-sign with the Yankees in short order. It would be the third time this year Hale has elected free agency and re-signed with the Yankees. No idea why he doesn’t just accept the outright assignment.